2012: The top 10, and then some

2012 is almost history. Can you believe it? It's a little frightening how fast time goes by these days. Not that I'm getting older or anything!

It's been a learning year, for sure. I was fortunate enough to get to attend a few events and learn from some of the experts about blogging and painting furniture.

I thought I'd recap my most popular and favorite posts and events from the year. I'm looking forward to 2013 and hope to continue to learn and grow in the blog world. If you follow me, chances are you've seen at least some of these posts. If you're new here, WELCOME, and here's a snippet about me and what I do!

~ Projects and Photos ~

Early in the year I completed a project that had been hanging over me for a while. Our 1960's ugly basement floor (part of it anyway) got a facelift with paint. This faux tile painted floor project is my most popular post of all time.

A big project that had to be done at our house this year was our master bath remodel.
One of the processes for that remodel was the transformation of our dining room buffet into a vanity. With a little paint, glaze, a new sink and faucet and some ingenuity from our contractor, it turned out pretty much exactly as we had hoped.

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This year I claimed a corner of the family paint and wallpaper shop to showcase and sell some of my items. Here are a couple of pieces of furniture I transformed with paint. Both are sold now and enjoying a new life. I actually hated to see them go, but the whole purpose of painting them was to help them sell!

First let me say that this is not my door nor my picture, but is an inspiration for me. It's from one of my most popular posts about creative ways to use chalkboard paint. I have 2 doors like this in my garage that are on my to-do list for 2013. Fingers crossed that I can make at least one of them look somewhat like this. It's super cool, in my opinion.

This year my daughters both decided they wanted to be in different rooms. My 16-year-old moved into the basement room where I painted the floor. My 13-year-old moved into the bedroom that was left vacant when the 16-year-old moved downstairs. This meant that we now have a guest room on the main floor of the house. I gave it a makeover in November and this is how it currently looks. It will change soon, I'm sure, so stay tuned to see the next look!

And as for their "new" rooms, I painted both rooms in the past 2 weeks and will be photographing and sharing them as soon as we get them decorated and finished up. Their new colors are plum and pistachio. Makes me hungry just thinking about it!

Organization and clutter is something we're constantly struggling with in our house. Earlier this year after seeing inspiration on pinterest, I created a command center to try to help keep us organized. It has helped some, but we still struggle with clutter. I'm always on the lookout for good ideas to help with that and will share anything that minimizes our clutter.

Our family room is the place where we unwind, watch movies, and play games. I did a tour of this room early in the year and featured some of my favorite elements of the room. It's a room that had 1960's paneling and was very dated. We updated it by painting the paneling, bookcase and woodwork and making a few other changes.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year and I love the colors and decor that come with it. I shared some of our fall decor ideas. Using natural items and found or vintage things is my favorite way to decorate.

One of our favorite places to visit is Kiawah Island, South Carolina. It's a small island about 30 minutes outside of Charleston, and it's very well preserved. Photography is my favorite hobby and some of my all-time favorite photos have been taken there, including the ones from this trip that we took in March.

If you'd like to see some of my other favorite photos, visit these posts:

Here's a couple of events that I participated in but haven't written about before now. Not that I was keeping them a secret, I just never got around to writing about them.

Karianne at Thistlewood Farm had a ticket giveaway for the Southern Bloggers Conference in Raleigh back in October and guess who won??? Me!! I was so excited and learned so much from her and the other speakers.

If you've ever read her blog, you should know that she is just as sweet and funny in person as she is on Thistlewood Farm. I love this gal!

I also finally got to meet Jacque and Matt from The DIY Village. They are so cute, and live about 30 minutes from me! We had met via internet before this, but I so was glad to meet them in person. They have many great ideas. Be sure to stop by their blog to see what they've been up to.

I also met and became friends with Holly from Storywood Designs, who's hanging out in the far right of the above picture. She is so sweet and does the most wonderful painted furniture pieces and has some great ideas on her blog. Visit her site for lots of inspiration.

I got to know Kathy from Petticoat Junktion during this trip. She does painted furniture and sells it along with Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint, Cece Caldwells' paint, and more in her Clarksville, TN shop. A very talented and nice lady indeed. I'm so glad I got to meet her and spend some time with her.

One of the presenters was Annie from Maison Blanche. She has a line of chalk paint called La Craie and some wonderful products to go along with it. Her colors are great, and one of the best new products for furniture painters is her "Glacage", shown below on a soft blue background.

It's a product that is stenciled onto a surface and makes a raised pattern. I'm in love with this idea.

It was a lucky year for me a couple of different times in 2012. I was over the moon when I won a ticket to see and meet Annie Sloan in Nashville back in March. Thanks to Jenny at The Back Porch Mercantile in Knoxville for the opportunity. It was a great experience. Mrs. Sloan is a true artist and has a great eye for color.

She demonstrated several techniques with her chalk paint and waxes and also answered questions for us.

Part of the day was spent getting hands-on experience with her chalk paints and waxes. I love the way this piece of previously unpainted woodwork turned out. I painted it with two different colors, then I used the clear wax on the right and the dark wax on the left. The paint sands nicely and can even be distressed with a damp cloth on carved items such as ornate frames.

Hmmm. Not the greatest picture, but I guess you can't expect too much from a camera phone!

1 comment

You have had a wonderful year for sure! I love your painted projects and room updates. It was fun meeting you at the blogger's conference. It was such a great & informative weekend! I look forward to following your adventures in the coming year.

Welcome! I'm Angie and my hope is to inspire you by sharing beautiful places and spaces, good food, and anything that makes life easier. Click the photo to learn my story. Or reach out to me at angie@postcardsfromtheridge.com.